


every way leads to you

by ifallgoeswrong



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Drug Use, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Louis-centric, M/M, Making Out, Sharing a Bed, Shotgunning, Teasing, YouTuber Louis, Youtuber Zayn, almost fighting i guess, alot of fluff, and alot of swearing, louis is best friends with taylor swift shut up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-05 11:05:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11576793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifallgoeswrong/pseuds/ifallgoeswrong
Summary: After an tiny incident Zayn thinks that Louis is one of the rudest YouTuber he ever met. Louis doesn't think that it's true and embraces his bitterness on Twitter.or where Zayn and Louis hate each other and keep crossing paths until they don't.





	every way leads to you

**Author's Note:**

> a friend of mine (you know who you are) basically wanted me to write a zouis fic, so i thought: why not? zouis is alive so why not write about them being youtubers and falling in love in yet another way.
> 
> my first try to write a proper fic/os so bare with me, i'm not a native english speaker.

Louis didn't think too much of it when he saw a new uploaded video from a stranger with his face on the thumbnail. He just didn't. But what was he supposed to do when it already had more views than one of his own? He couldn't just ignore it and he clearly doesn't.

As if the daily comments of angry fans demanding new videos wasn't enough. As if Louis' management sitting in his back stressing him out wasn't enough torture. No, the brunette had to find a clickbait worthy video with his face plastered on the thumbnail and had to watch it the whole way through. The guy in the video told the audience about his experiences with different YouTubers and how rude they were when he met them in person. It was really not a surprise with some people that were mentioned but the thing that made Louis totally lose it was that the guy said that Louis himself was one of the rudest people he has ever met.

"So, Louis Tomlinson. The guy with four point million people subscribed to him. I really was a fan of him back in the days but this man... no, thank you. I met him as people were lining up to meet some other famous YouTubers. He was talking to some fans and after he was done talking I approached him." The dark haired man leans back on his couch and stares back into the camera. "He was being the rudest little fuck."

Louis couldn't even remember meeting this guy. He couldn't think of a situation where he wasn't the absolute sweetest guy to his fans or just plain strangers. Only when he was stressed out, he wanted the meet ups to get over as fast as possible. 

Except this one time maybe. He hasn't got a very vivid memory of it but it was there at least. The longer he stares at the guy on his screen the more he tries to remember meeting him. A quick gaze at the subscriber count as well as the views tells Louis that this guy probably wasn't a YouTuber for too long. Judging by the guy's camera movement and his lighting, he wasn't that much of a professional either.

The brunette scrolls through the comments of the video and saw a lot of people defending him and also the other guy. He saw that the maker of the video replied to one of them. Apparently his name was Zayn Malik.

Louis squinted while reading the tiny letters off the screen, "I know what went down. Stop making it into something bigger than it actually is. I don't like him and nothing is going to change it, lol. He was rude asf and if you need proof here you go. The video is proof enough. x"

He was even more confused than he was before he even watched the video, if he was completely honest. But all of this was too much, he just felt the need to tweet a tiny bit about it. He isn't going to name names. Louis wants to make sure that this someone knows it was directed at him.

He already has opened a tab and went on Twitter because when is he not? He tried to think of a subtle way to tell Zayn to go to hell but he decided against it, after he saw the comments of his fans defending him. They would go crazy. His fans call themselves Louies, which was a pretty cute name for a fandom which was also filled with 12 year old idiots who haven't hit puberty yet. Some of them want to marry him and some of them want him to marry some other YouTuber, which was a bit weird. He never has been in a proper relationship, really. 

As long as it wasn't this Zayn guy, he was okay with it.

Louis snapped out oh his trance and began typing something but ended up deleting it again. Since when did he get so bad at shading people? He started where he left off again and pressed Send.

"Before you come at me for being rude, you should read your script again. Maybe you read it off wrong?" He just waited for the replies to come and looked at them with a big grin on his face. Some of his followers were confused and needed some explaining. The other ones just laughed their ass off because they knew exactly who he was talking about. They wanted the fights to happen, just like back in the school days. If they want it, they can have it.

He sends another tweet.

"Who even uses lol anymore?" He sits back and crosses one leg over the other. Zayn wanted it that way. If he's being the rude bitch now, Louis can do it better.

Louis can do everything better.

xxx

In the following days the brunette didn't care about the video anymore as he did the day he watched it. Maybe he would've even forgot about it if his friend didn't decide to show him a tweet that was directed at Louis. He was sitting right next to him when he saw Zayn tweeting about how people couldn't tweet him directly and how they are purposefully dodging the @-button. After Louis' friend, Niall was his name, saw the tweets he just couldn't contain himself and showed them to Louis right away.

At first he wanted to convince Niall that those Tweets weren't about him, though the more he looked into it, the more it made sense. Louis was playing with his lighter, staring at the ceiling until he turned his head to look in Niall's direction.

"Do you think it will cause a lot of drama if I tweet something back?" Louis looked away when Niall was about to answer him. "Mate, don't you think you're a bit too obsessed with this guy? I mean he just stated his opinion?" Niall tried to laugh to stop making it a bit too awkward.

"Well his opinion was not acceptable for me because this dumbass was fucking rude! Probably just lies! Are you on his site now?", but as soon Louis said something, Niall just shook his head. "You're just so fucking dramatic."

The blonde stopped Louis from throwing his lighter up and down by slapping it away just as he tossed it in the air. "Listen, stop thinking about it. It's dumb, Louis. Just do what you're doing every day and stop giving a shit about Malik. I think he just did it to piss you off and looks like he succeeded."

Niall couldn't bring anything out of Louis. Just an annoyed sigh and a gaze that could kill him any second. When Louis thought about something for too long, it also stayed in his mind for far too long.

"We should go out so you can think about something different. Enough Malik on your mind."

And thats what they did until a familiar face crossed their path to the bar. Louis was really lucky that it wasn't Zayn because he would be ready to fight him on these very streets. It was a friend of them, Liam his name, who was just buying some stuff for VidCon which was next week. Since Louis was also vlogging, he practically shoved the camera in Liam's face.

"Look who we got here, what a surprise! What are you doing, Payno?" Liam looked a bit lost, he wasn't prepared for being interviewed by two of his mates who just ran into him. Louis wasn't surprised though Liam always looked a bit lost, he thought. Since they just got a little bit of stuttering going on, Louis just talked over him until he knew what to say. He actually had a lot to say.

"Uh, I just came back from a shopping trip for VidCon. I heard that people get chosen to be with another YouTuber in a hotel room, because of the missing space. They just put them together and nobody knows who they end up with until the day before. So I thought, why not stock up on random stuff, if I get in a room with somebody I don't even know?"

Louis' only question was, "You really can't choose?"

"No. I thought you'd know."

"I didn't." Louis had disbelief written all over his face.

"Did nobody tell you? I mean, you're going right?"

"Yes."

Niall tried, he really did, to suppress a laugh but he was just too tempted to make a joke about Louis and Zayn being in the same room together. They would bite each others asses off, practically. He didn't even know if he meant it in a kinky way or not.

"Even Zayn?" Louis coughed, giving Niall the death stare again. They had bad blood, even though they haven't met. Technically, because all of this mess happened because Zayn couldn't shut up about Louis being "rude" to him in one of his videos.

"Zayn?", their wordless conversation of death stares got interrupted by Liam questioning Niall's comment, "Malik? Zayn Malik?"

"Yeah." Niall just keeps interrupting Louis to steal the words out of his mouth, initiating that he should do the explaining. Liam furrowed his eyebrows and was waiting for Niall to continue. "Him and Louis have a little bit of bad blood. Zayn was being a prick."

"Wow thanks for agreeing with me?", Louis stopped his camera a few minutes ago and now finally put it back into the pockets of his hoodie. Now he's just standing awkwardly between Niall and Liam, while using a tiny rock as a football.

"We can't be talking about the same person, Zayn is a sweet guy." Louis never paid attention so fast to a sentence like he did now. The brunette wasn't even shocked that Liam knew him. He just knew everyone that lived in this town in some way.

"But we are?", Louis kicked the tiny rock away and put his hands on his hips. "I don't like him. He's a full-on prick. But let's not talk about him, shall we?" Louis' friends shrugged it off. Niall and Liam continued talking and got lost in their conversation for a bit. They didn't forget about Louis, though.

"I think he'll also be at VidCon. I guess we'll see each other there, Louis?"

"I guess so."

xxx

The following days contained lots of swearing, fucking things up and also Louis uploading new videos on his YouTube channel. Basically a pretty normal week for him. He hadn't heard anything from the guy that accused him of being rude. Of course he could've let it go, but Louis was too petty to do that. Maybe he could find him at VidCon in case he was attending, which Liam said he would. Then everything would be over and he could stop shading him every three tweets. The media also picked up on the little fight and reported it on a few websites. Louis found it funny how they made a personal little conflict such a big of a deal. Well, he wasn't better than them, then.

Louis was a drama queen. Apart from that, he also met up with his friends a few times since they planned on traveling together to the city where VidCon took place. Louis hopes that they ended up on the same floor at least, since the managers of the hotel had to change everything up a bit. They tried something new, Louis wasn't mad or anything. He could make some friends and maybe change rooms even. So that wasn't a problem. 

xxx

One day before VidCon. Everything depended on the E-Mails the YouTuber would get and who they'd end up in a room with. While Niall already received his, Louis was patiently waiting for his to arrive. The blonde lad got a room with a YouTuber that Louis never heard of. Probably better off this way, maybe they would find him rude too, was also in his thoughts. Since it became so popular in the last few weeks.

Louis was hanging out at Niall's. It became a habit after they became friends and people would even think Louis had moved in with him. After three years, they still had fun like it was their first time meeting. They just had the times of their lives. Speaking of having the time of their lives, right now was definitely not Louis'. He was staring his phone down until he heard it vibrating on the wooden table, which upset him even more.

It was just not his day. Or week.

The brunette didn't even want to look at the piece of plastic in front of him and slid it over to Niall.

"Read it."

"Why? Are you too freaking scared to read your E-mail?", Niall didn't understand Louis' worries and picked his phone up. Louis pressed a pillow he took from the couch against his head and wished it suffocated him right where he sat.

"Yes, I certainly am, now do it." It was a bit hard to understand his words, because he was just mumbling into the fabric. The younger lad did as he was told though and after he skimmed through the text, he showed Louis the phone display, wordless. He almost didn't want to look. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as he thought.

In conclusion; he shouldn't even think. He did that too much.

"I literally want to jump off a cliff right now, this is not funny, Niall." Louis couldn't understand how his self is being so calm right now. Maybe its just another way of showing his passive aggressive attitude. Or the realization that he's going to be sharing a room with Zayn fucking Malik.

"Hey, at least you two could discuss your little conflict ya got there."

"Shut up, you're not helping at all! Just... let me process this for a bit." So Niall didn't say anything. He just kinda stared at Louis for a bit.

"And?"

"Life hates me but it's fine. I'll make the best out of it." Louis could feel his stomach twisting but he half-hearted ignored it for the sake of the trip, starting tomorrow. He was being dramatic again. But when is he not? "I'll just pretend that the last week wasn't full of shade aimed at him, my fans didn't attack him and news websites didn't report about all of this. I'm gonna be fine. For sure. I'll pretend that I haven't been creating the drama myself, oh my god."

Niall shook his head in refusal and left his place next to Louis on the couch. The brunette figured that he was in the kitchen due the noise coming from that direction. "Mate, if you would chill out for a second!", he peeked around the corner, "Zayn isn't going to rip your damn head off!" There was a possibility that he was right.

"Can you change rooms?" After Louis asked that question Niall peered back into the living room.

"Are you nuts? We aren't going to change rooms if you wanted to say that. No freaking chance. Get that idea out of ya head."

"I haven't even considered it until you said it." Louis turned his entire body in Niall's direction. 

"I'm not gonna do it anyways."

"Fuck you too, Niall." 

xxx

As Louis was finally standing in the lobby of the hotel, after taking numerous pictures with fans outside, he could breathe. It made him a bit anxious when so many people were crowded around him, demanding selfies and autographs for tattoos. He loved them, though. Not many people can say that they have a real relationship with their favorite YouTuber, Louis' fans can. 

While Louis was astonished by the way they changed up the lobby, two hands were wrapped around his body which scared him just a little. He was ready to drop kick the next person that was too close to him, but luckily Niall was fast enough to reveal himself.

"Have you got your card already?", Louis had an odd feeling in his stomach at first, due to the stranger who was standing next to him.

"Yeah, we met on the way in, since you had to storm out of the car like you were on drugs, mate."

Louis just completely ignored Niall and tried talking to the other guy. He looked like he was his age. "And what's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Harry. Nice to meet such a big personalty!" The brunette went to shake Louis' hand but he intentionally grabbed onto his backpack.

"Same here." They made a kind of awkward eye contact and then they both went off to the stairway. Louis didn't even know why they didn't take the elevator, right next to it.

He almost forgot, but his first intuition was to ask the lady at the front desk for his keycard. Unfortunately, Louis didn't get the luck of getting it first, "Your roommate already got it, you'd have to knock, Mr. Tomlinson. Room 125. I'm really sorry for the inconveniences and I hope you enjoy your stay." He sighed, thanked her anyways and went up to the elevator to get to his floor. Luckily said elevator was empty. He passed 6 floors until the doors finally opened up and he could look for room number 125. It couldn't be that hard to find, since they weren't many rooms on a floor anyways. They expanded in height, not width.

The walls had a touch of dark red, which matched the floor in a pleasant way. Louis shoes made a soft 'pft' sound while he was walking in the hallway, due to the carpet. Louis examined every door, until he came to the part of the hotel where the room number 120 started. His eyes scanned every detail until he stood in front of his own room. He tried to suppress every single thought he had right now, breathed in deeply and knocked on the door.

It wasn't long until it opened with a "click" sound and the man from the video and Louis, stood there, face-to-face.

" _Tomlinson_. Couldn't wait for you to arrive.", Zayn joked, taking a pull on the cigarette he just lit. Louis furrowed his eyebrows as he blew the smoke of it right in his face and moving a bit, so he could enter the room.

"How welcoming, _Malik_. I haven't had one in a bit."

"Good to know, since nobody asked." The dark haired man closed the door behind him, leaning against it, while pulling on his cigarette. He tapped the ash off in the ashtray and looked at Louis. A bit too long maybe, since the brunette could feel his stare on his back. "Where am I supposed to sleep?", Louis questioned, not turning his face to Zayn.

"Dunno, maybe on this thing?" He pointed to the cheap looking, foldout bed which was standing next to the wall and the table. "I mean, I was here early, you should've been too." Louis rolled his eyes at him, taking the backpack off his shoulders and putting it on the neat double bed that was standing in the middle of the room. "Can you be nice for a second?"

"Yeah, I actually can. Don't know about you, though." Zayn put his cigarette out and opened the window. "Can you?"

Louis didn't even want to answer. "Look, Zayn... I didn't mean to make this whole situation that big of a deal, mate."

"Well, you can tell that your fans. Also, tell them that they could get more creative with their death threats. An "I hate you so much go die" isn't that effective." The younger boy took a sip from his water bottle and continued talking. "Don't like apologies that are half assed and asuumeingly compelling."

"Do you think that I wanted that to happen?" Zayn only shrugged. "You tell me."

"You know what, I'm not here to argue so I'll just go over to my friend Niall's room and stay there until its late."

"Nobody's stopping you. I'll probably be asleep when you come back, so be ready to sleep like the cheap." Before Zayn said anything, Louis was ready to leave but decided against it the moment he finished what he was saying.

"Just know I really am sorry now. I didn't think it through.", was the last thing Louis said before he disappeared through the door. Zayn didn't think anything of it until later that evening.

xxx 

It was late at night, Niall almost kicked out Louis for not leaving his room until 10 p.m. He really wanted to wait until his roommate was fast asleep, so he didn't had to have a conversation with him again. Tomorrow is the first day of VidCon and Louis was already excited for his panel and that was the only thing he was excited for.

Louis' luck didn't leave him, for the next few hours at least. The keycard for the room was his now, since he kindly took it from the table, Zayn placed it on. Even if he had no good word for Zayn, he still didn't want to disturb him. Louis was as quiet as he could and relieved, as he closed the door behind him. His decision was to shower in the morning, right now he couldn't give two fucks about his physical state. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep forever. Well, maybe not _forever_ forever.

The brunette didn't bother changing his clothes to something different, so he took them off until he was standing in the dark with only a pair of boxer on his hips. Not even for money would he sleep in the bed that looks like it has been through war, so he decides to share the double bed with Zayn. Even if he did not like the thought of it.

Soon he will.

A few hours into the night, Louis didn't expect to wake up by getting kicked in the butt. 

Nonetheless, he didn't expect to get kicked in the butt by Zayn. Louis even bothered to wake him up.

"Could you please stop kicking me? I don't want any bruises on my ass."

Zayn just sighed, Louis could feel the bed lifting a bit and then a chest on his shoulders. Zayn's voice gave him goosebumps. "Princess, why don't you sleep in the bed over there? Just made for you." His voice was raspy, still overtaken by tiredness. "If you don't want to you better get used to it." After a long pause he chuckled. "Getting goosebumps? What a kinky little lad you are."

"Can you shut up?" Zayn bursted out laughing at Louis' words and turned around, so that him and Louis are laying back to back. "Are you not able to sleep alone or why did you hop into bed with me?" 

Louis really had enough.

"Zayn. Can we talk about what happened the other day we met? I remember. I don't want this to go on and on and on."

"If you really want to talk about it let's do it tomorrow. I might not remember all of this when I wake up."

"Thank you. After VidCon?"

"Yeah. After I had my gig."

"You sing?" Zayn rolled his eyes at the surprise in Louis' voice.

"I do. I'm working on an album."

"Oh. That's great."

"Do you want to continue talking or raise the awkwardness level? I'm not here for that. Go to fucking sleep now."

With that they had their almost first conversation which was not just pure toxic.

xxx

Later on the same day, everyone was getting ready for their panels and gigs. Niall had a gig just after Zayn and Louis was almost the first person to start with his panel. He talked about an Anti-Bullying campaign which he founded. Liam also takes part in it. He's the co-founder.

"How long does it take you to shower?! Louis, you better hurry the fuck up!"

"Bro, if you could chill out for a second that would really really help! Just go smoke something, I don't care!"

For a moment you couldn't hear a sound coming from both of them. But Zayn already snooped around and found the outfit Louis was going to wear.

"A cute outfit you got there! What are you doing for your panel? Dancing?", the dark haired boy just chuckled, taking his cigarettes with him.

Louis came running out of the bathroom, just a towel around his hips. "Don't. You. Dare. Touching. It. That's not mine, it's Niall's. Do you know him?" Zayn risked a quick glance at Louis looking for another point to concentrate on. "Look, I'm not up for that smalltalk-shit with you. But no. I just know his friend Liam."

"Oh. Right. He told us about you." You could see a quick smile on Zayn's face. "Really?" Louis just nodded and took the outfit from the bed. He folded it and put it in his backpack. While Louis himself took out one of his cigarettes and put it between his lips, he looked over to the other bed for a moment and hid behind the room divider to change. 

"Considering using it?"

"No. I'm not. Now go. You have stuff to do." he mumbled a bit, causing the cigarette to fall down on the floor.

"Not before you had your panel. Did you forget about that?"

Louis peeked out behind the divider and just let a confident "No!" out of his lips.

"Now go! Or do you wanna see me change in front of you, weirdo?" Well, Zayn wouldn't say no.

xxx

Zayn saw a bit of Louis' panel and was impressed. He talked about various topics, answered questions and then went off stage to meet fans. There was a possibility that he came for Louis and not the panel, or Liam. Or the fact that he also wanted the fight to be over, so he didn't have to behave like a rude little child anymore. He didn't HAVE to but... it was just better off like that. There were often situation where he couldn't explain himself so he used his sarcastic rude self to cope. And there it was.

His mistake. The mistake he made, that portrayed himself as the victim. He fucked up and he was about to tell Louis.

Right now, he was sitting in the hotel room waiting for Louis to come back. He had to tell him everything just like Louis had to tell Zayn everything. They thought to themselves that they were being the bad guys in the situation, even though that none of them didn't do anything bad. Zayn used his rude self to get over things and Louis was just plain drunk and hasn't had that good of a memory of it.

At the point where Louis came into the room Zayn even smiled for a moment, which made Louis think that he was on something.

"Hey. I think I've got everything figured out. I have to apologize." Zayn's words took Louis by surprise.

"So I was right?"

"Basically." Zayn didn't look him in the eyes for a few minutes until he continued talking, "I kept telling myself that I was right, because I just use different methods to... get over things and I think everything was unnecessary. The whole fight started because I was being dumb." The only feeling Louis felt at the moment was guilt, though. He kept trashing the guy in front of him until it escalated into a fight between their fans. The media picked it up, even friends of them.

"You're not the only person that put their hands in the fire, I did too. This is so dumb." Louis was amused by the whole situation. They both truly just realized the mistakes they made were just little conflicts with themselves. 

"When I met you, I was drunk off my ass wasn't I? The fans I met before I met you even looked at me in a weird way, so I think they noticed. Did you?"

"After you were gone, I noticed the strong smell of alcohol that was following you, Louis. Maybe I forgot about that." 

 Louis was leaning against the door the whole time, while holding the keycard in his hands. He put it away and scratched his shoulder blades.

"Yeah, me too. I dislike myself a bit for that." Louis laughed it off and lowered himself next to Zayn, on the bed. "No more fighting, alright, bro?" Zayn looked behind him, leaning back. Seems like he was looking for something. "Look what I've got for us. Just for today." When Louis looked down in Zayn's hands he started grinning really wide. He got some shot glasses for them and also a lot of alcohol. 

"Wanna make me drunk?", Louis took one of the glasses and just smiled. He couldn't contain it or anything. Everything seems to work out automatically.

"Us. I wanna make us drunk."

"Oh, what do you have in your mind, Malik?" Louis loved to tease people.

Zayn filled Louis' glass after opening the bottle and immediately clinked glasses with him. The booze found its way down Louis' throat, he could feel it burning. He wanted to feel it in his bloodstream. Louis hadn't had anything in so long now. Without any doubt, they both got their problems. Zayn got his. Louis got one too. Two boys with problems that could be washed away with sweet relief in seconds. They've got this. They even got themselves up after Zayn refilled their glasses four or five times. Their laughter filled the room, it was a great, hilarious atmosphere in the room. It felt like thats what they've been doing every day. And what they'll do in the future. Two bottles were empty and the buzz kicked in.

"Lad. Lad. I've got an idea.", Zayn just slurred his words, like Louis did when they met for the first time. Louis was just watching him, his pupils wide due to the alcohol. He stared at him like he was the only one that knew what they were doing, even though - Zayn hasn't got any ideas either. None except this one.

"Lets smoke something. Have you... tried this once?" Zayn showed him a tiny box, he opened it so Louis could see what he meant. The brunette definitely knew what it was, but he never considered doing it - until now. Zayn was there. Zayn could keep him save. Zayn. Just him.

"No. But I wanna." They were really doing weed right in their hotel room. Louis couldn't give a fuck about the consequences nor anything else at the moment. Every part of his body just screamed for feeling the rush again. Zayn lit it up, taking a drag of it. He blew it right into Louis' face, which he approved of by taking the blunt and copying Zayn. "You know what's even better?" Zayn asked and waited for Louis to look into his direction. He pushed himself further on the bed, so Louis would do the same.

"Take a drag and just do what you're doing best." Zayn did it just as he said it and held the blunt a bit away from them. His lips came closer to Louis' second by second, just as he was millimeters away from them, he stopped. Zayn pulled Louis onto him, the brunettes knees were touching the silk of the bed. You didn't have to tell Louis twice to do the thing he was about to do. Lips on lips, careful but hard against each other. Smoke from one mouth to another, which got blown into the others face after they let go of each other. Louis took Zayn's blunt, left it to burn out in the ashtray. His hands were on Zayn's body, tracing up and down and finding their place in his hair.

Doesn't matter in which physical state he was now, the only thing he thought was right, was to kiss the boy under him. Most of his actions were driven by the alcohol in his blood, by the kick he got when Zayn offered to smoke with him. "What do you think I can do best?"

"Tell me." Both of them were just seconds away from kissing again, well, the first time wasn't that much of a kiss. "No, I know something better. Show me."

Louis giggled at Zayns words and pushed him down on the mattress. His hands were still in his hair and he looked at him through his blue eyes. His wet lips were pressed against the other's, he even smiled for a moment. The other boy's hands left their place on Louis' back and were now placed on his neck. Even though they loved every second of it, it was not them. Intoxicated, on top of each other, high from the feeling of being loved. Louis opened his mouth to let their tongues collide with one another, making them both feel good.

"Where did you learn that, _Tomlinson_?", Zayn was breathless, his chest moving up and down fast. Louis bend down to Zayn's neck, spreading kisses till he reached his collar bone. Zayn pulled at his shirt, squirming under him. The brunette reached over to the blunt, dragging on it. There was a smile on his face after they kissed again and again and again, exchanging the smoke between them.

"That's a secret." 

Their drunk selves wanted it to last forever, though the memory of it was gone in the morning. 

xxx

The morning after wasn't nice at all. They made out until they were too tired, collapsing next to each other and falling asleep close next to the other. Louis was the first to wake up, his head resting on Zayn's chest. The boy's eyes were heavy, they had to adjust themselves because the room was filled with the light of the morning sun. Disgusted by the smell his nose was picking up, he quietly stood up and opened two of the windows. While he was still half asleep, his eyes concentrated on something else. There were two or three empty bottles of strong alcohol next to the bed and the ashtray was completely full.

"What the fuck?", the bottles made the typical "clink" sound as Louis picked them up and read off the percentage of alcohol in it and name. He dropped them into the trash bin in the room next door and also cleaned the ashtray. "Zayn?" Waking him up by just saying his name wasn't going to help at all, so he threw a pillow, which was laying on the ground at him. And maybe another one.

"... Louis, what are you doing?" The raspy tone again.

"Did we drink this?" Zayn was confused by Louis asking that question. He thought he could remember that, at least.

"Yeah, we did. I brought it." Louis nodded in approval.

"Understandable, after all of that." Perhaps Louis didn't notice Zayn's awkward laugh after he said it. Or he was just ignoring it. "I can't remember shit, were we so fucking wasted?" Zayn stretched out his legs and also his body. Louis hasn't even noticed that he wasn't wearing his shirt.

"We also had a smoke. You were so pumped."

"I was? Haven't had one in so long." Zayn just smiled at his answer. "I figured.", he said.

As Louis was examining the mess that was made in the room, it wasn't as bad as it sounded, he noticed a mark on the other boy's neck. He crawled onto the bed to have a closer look at it.

"What are you staring at?", Zayn asked, shortly after remembering that this mark was from Louis'.

"At a hickey, I guess?" If the dark haired boy didn't feel his heart drop through his stomach and ass right now, then he was at the wrong place. But he did, _luckily_.

"Yeah... got it yesterday." Wasn't it the amount of alcohol Louis had, he could've easily figured out who gave it to him. He wasn't jealous or anything. He wasn't. At least, that's what he was trying to tell himself numerous times. "Who's the lucky one?", Louis tried to play it off. Playing it off like he wasn't jealous and would probably make a better job at it than whoever this was. Sometimes it was just too hard to be better than himself. Should Zayn just pop in with the truth or should he keep Louis guessing? A decision that was too hard to make straightaway so he just said, "You'll find out some day." and left to take a shower. Louis shook his head in disbelief and continued cleaning the room. Someday was closer than he thought.

Since it was already day two of VidCon, they just did the same as yesterday. Louis left for his panel, Zayn watched him and had his gig after another few panels. This time Louis was also there and listened to his songs with a smile on his face. After they were done with everything, Louis met up with Niall.

"And? Did everything go well?" They were sitting on the balcony of Niall's room and were eating burgers. Finally they both could have some rest. From the fans, their management and everything else. Well, not Niall's roommate because he thought it would've been a good idea to join them.

"Yeah. Me and Zayn made up. It was big misunderstanding and we were both dumb asses. He's probably making an apology video. I'll join him, if I can.", in the middle of the sentence Louis took a big bite of his burger and put it down in front of him. "He's really nice. We had something to drink too." Louis didn't know what was going on in Niall's head but judging his facial expression, nothing good.

"I have the feeling you two would get on very well, if ya knew each other better." Louis rolled his eyes at him, he knew what Niall was trying to say. He finished his burger and leaned back. The blonde lad was always trying to find a good person for Louis. So what if he found him now? Louis took a sip from his drink and sighed. "I know what you mean. Just because we argued for a couple of weeks, doesn't mean we can suddenly be lovers." The moment Louis said that, Niall's roommate Harry spat out his drink.

"Are you serious? He even stayed for your panel and you know how long it was.", that was probably the first real thing Harry ever said to Louis.

"Don't make the situation into more than it actually is!"

"Well you're a professional at that, Louis.", interrupted Niall, the brunette. "You can't judge here." Louis fell back on his chair again, because when a conversation gets to heated, he likes to move around a little too much. He nodded. "Fine, if you two say so." The other two looked at each other and then at Louis again. Harrys expression changed suddenly.

"You have a bruise on your chest?" For a moment Louis didn't know that he was the person that was spoken to. He turned his head to look at his chest and saw a red bruise right under his collar bone. "I do, apparently?" It wasn't that big. Probably gotten unnoticed while he was changing. "Maybe I ran into something." Niall slid closer with his chair to look at it. "Boyo, you can't tell that this isn't Zayn's work." He pulled his shirt up in shock and Niall and Harry just bursted out laughing. "Only kidding mate! Or do you have something to hide from us, huh?"

"You are idiots." Louis took one of his cigarettes out and lit it up. Niall's glimpse changed from Louis to his cigarette. "I'll go back to my room now. Zayn and me have stuff to do." Niall chuckled. "Have fun loverboy." Before Louis left the room he proudly flipped Niall off and put the cigarette in their ashtray to let it burn out.

"I'm back!!" The scream was probably heard by half of the hotel.

"I see that." Zayn was sitting on the bed with his laptop, the light of it brightened his face. "I'm cutting a video right now. Do you want to see it?"

"I wanted to take a shower but yeah, I mean I have time for one video." Louis laughed at his own sarcastic words and sat down beside Zayn. As soon as he was sitting next to him Zayn pressed a button to start it. Louis was mesmerized. One time he looked up, catching Zayn looking at him. They both smiled. That was the point were Zayn saw the hickey he gave Louis while making out. He forgot about that.

The staring was maybe a little too much. There wasn't much of the video left but Louis paused it to let the room fall into silence.

"Is something's wrong?" Louis asked it in a soft tone Zayn almost couldn't understand.

"The thing on your chest." What a great idea of Louis to wear a shirt with a low-cut neckline. You could see anything if you wanted. 

"Oh. That. Yeah, I don't kn-" But before Louis could even finish what he was about to say, Zayn interrupted him. "That was me. And this was you." He pulled his own shirt down. Now Louis was even more confused than he was before. "That's a joke, right?" He laughed, tried to bring the same reaction out of Zayn.

"No, no. I thought you'd remember but ... while we were drunk and smoked pot, we started making out, basically. I don't want to quibble around, so. There you go. Our drunk selves made out." While Zayn was talking the whole time, Louis stared down at himself. "What the fuck.", he said in a monotone voice he hadn't used before, "Why.. did we?" He touched his beard, scratching it slowly and then looking up again. "Why can you remember and I don't? I want to remember it."

"Hey, its fine." The least thing Louis expected Zayn to do was to pull him into his arms, but thats what he did. It was a hug that he could've get used to. One of those, where you just want to lay there, things on your mind that bother you but the warm embrace of the other person made it feel like home again. A home you feel save in. 

"Can you take much alcohol?" Both of them were really quiet, they didn't want to upset the other person.

"Well, probably not. I've got two examples now, if that isn't great." The smaller boy rubbed his hands over his face. He wasn't the happiest about it. How could he? Louis fully laid down and bend his legs. Still the other's arms wrapped around his tiny body. "This is so dumb. I'm sorry if I'm making a little scene but... it's really annoying, you know." Zayn laid next to him, he didn't expect a word from the smaller boy, but here they are. 

"I get it, I get it, Louis. First you have no memory of it and then I'm the one you made out with."

"Shut up. Thats not.. it." Times like this made Louis feel like it was the right time for a mental breakdown, but hugs like that made him forget why he was even upset. If it wasn't for the closeness that they both needed, one of them already would've let go. It was just a matter of time where they would crave the other. Their warmth, their words, their everything. They just had to realize.

Zayn shrugged, "It happens." How dare he be so chill about it? After another silence Zayn let go, propping himself with his elbow, looking at Louis. "If we both pretend it didn't happen, it didn't." Both laughed, so hard that Louis got little crinkles around his eyes. The whole situation was a mess but they'd have the whole night to talk about it. The rest of the week. And it was okay. 

All jokes aside; he was grateful for what he got. Hard to express, easy to think of. Wouldn't it had been for his friends and fans even, Louis would be sitting at home at this moment, filming a video or two. Past Louis didn't like confrontation. Now that he knows that the confrontation made out with him, it wasn't that bad as he thought. The trip was mostly for himself. At the end of the day it was just a better decision to come. Today will also be marked as the day of the beginning of a new chapter in his life. A happier one. 

Possibly one where he doesn't have to be alone anymore. 

xxx

The week full of stress and pain in the asses was finally over. Louis was at home again, sitting in his home office by himself. An unfamiliar feeling of being alone again. It wasn't like he didn't know how it felt like. He lived alone for more than three years by now. Nothing new for him. Just unfamiliar, since he hadn't had so much fun at VidCon in ages. Except two years ago, when one of his closest friends, Taylor, was there. They didn't spend that much time together since she went on a big tour for the past months but she promised to visit him for a day or two, when she was finally back in town again.

Speaking of her, he should consider calling her up again. Thats what he was about to do, he decided. He'll tell her everything that happened in the past months, if she didn't hear of it already because of the media. It was really everywhere. Due to the fact that he was already scrolling through his phone, he went through his contacts and searched up "Tay Tay". Their last little chat was almost two weeks ago, sadly. He hoped she didn't mind if he called without asking. Nobody picked up for the first seconds but after ten or twelve, he could hear her voice at the other end.

"Louis, babe? Is this really you?" She laughed, that was probably what he missed the most. His smile went even bigger when he was the one to talk.

"Yeah, it's really me. Are you busy right now?"

"Tomlinson, you know that I'd drop everything for you. What's on your mind, pumpkin? Did something horrible happen?" She gasps, "Did Niall and Selena hook up again?" Now it was Louis who was laughing at Taylors assumptions. There was also a little giggle coming from her.

"Well, there was a lot happening to be honest. Where do I start? ... And no, they didn't. If they did Niall would've told me, probably. Or not. I'm not sure about his relationship status. I'll spy for you again, I promise, Tay."

"I missed you. Like, a lot." Things like that made Louis love her even more.

"Missed you too, love." There it was, the feeling of indescribable happiness. "Where should I start now? You probably saw it on those news websites, didn't you?" She thought about it for a second, giving a hum as a confirmation. "The fight I had with this YouTuber was a mess. Really not pretty. His name is Zayn, actually. I bet you know that already."

"Did you fight him in person?"

"What?"

Louis could literally feel how Taylor's eyes lit up while she was laughing again. "You two did meet, what happened there?"

"Long story..." Louis coughed, adjusting his position on the couch he was laying on. "Basically, I was mad at him because I thought he lied, then I shaded him on Twitter and he did the same. Weeks after shading the one another, we had to share a room when VidCon was on. We both realized it was a misunderstanding, then we drank something and smoked and after that we made out. Now two weeks later I'm sitting here on my couch telling you all of this."

"What the fuck." The blonde probably had to let everything sink in for a minute. Or a whole hour. "Why the hell did you make out?"

"You know how I am when I'm drunk, Taylor."

"I do, yes. Can you remember how it happened?" Louis wanted to shake his head but remembered that she couldn't see him.

"No, I want to get over this now. How are _you_ doing?" Taylor sighed at Louis changing the topic, but that was just how he was. If he gets uncomfortable, he'll change the topic. If he doesn't want to talk about it, he'll change the topic. This time Taylor wanted to know more and brought up the subject "Zayn" again.

"What did he say to all of this? Was he chill about it?" Louis thought about it and answered her question, "Yeah. He was. He was very... comforting." Louis smiled at the memory of it. He had trouble remembering things when alcohol was involved but this time he was the most sober he's ever been. "One of the things he did was to tell me that it's going to be okay and I... never felt so save in a stranger's arms."

"Are you serious right now?" Taylors voice didn't change, she was just a bit... surprised.

"Yeah, why?" Louis just told her his thoughts. Taylor knew that. She knew him long enough.

"You sound like you like the thought of him."

His mind was fond of Taylor's words but he didn't know if his heart could agree on that, yet. He stood up and jammed his hand under his elbow. He continued listening to her, "Do you want me to visit you next week? I've got a few days off and you sound like you need your best friend in a physical state."

"Would be nice, yes. After all these months of not seeing each other in person it's time to catch up a bit." He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned against his desk. "And I'd make you some tea."

"Sounds great." She smiled big, "Take care of yourself, big guy."

"You too. Love you."

"Love you too. See you on Monday?", she asked.

"Yeah. See you on Monday." They both smiled, even though they couldn't even see the other person and Taylor hung up. Louis let himself fall onto the couch again and put his phone on his chest. In which version of reality would he let himself get into a mess like that? First the fight, then the making out and now? The feeling that something was missing. Or someone. Louis was fucked.

Few hours later but on the same day Louis was texting Niall. They were sending voice messages back and fourth. Since Louis waited for an answer from Niall he kept switching between apps, Twitter, WhatsApp and YouTube. He scrolled with a bored expression through his feed and stopped sometimes to read the video titles. His eyes immediately snapped wide open as he saw a video posted by no one other than Zayn. His heart started pumping as he clicked on the video and waited until it was loading, finally. The title said, "Apologies." and it had already millions of views. It was on the trending page. Louis could go into cardiac arrest right at this moment

The video really left his mind after he came back from VidCon because everything was well between them. So the video meant even more to him. It began with Zayn smiling into the camera in a much better setting.

"Hey guys. It's time for me to do a video of this kind." He paused so look at his fingers at continued, "You probably could tell that I was in a fight with another YouTuber." Zayn smiled as he mentioned the word YouTuber. "I'll just come straight to the point. We made up at VidCon. We were both pricks to each other. We were both childish and used Twitter to bring the other person down, which wasn't cool at all." Finally, he looked back into the camera. "Louis, I saw your panel. I know better now, believe me." Laughter filled the room, as they both did it at the same time. Creepy. "It was a wrong move from both of us and I'd like to apologize. Deeply. It would've been better when Louis would be next to me, hearing all of this live but you already did just with another words. Thank you for listening to me."

After this video he might slip into a coma. His heart was beating so fast and the corners of his mouth couldn't be more stretched from smiling so big.

"At this point I would refer to his Anti-Bullying campaign. He did a panel if you haven't seen it already, please go watch it. I'll link it to you after the video. I also like to apologize to his fans, since mine did attack them also. I hope you all can forgive me." He laughed again and adjusted the camera. "Now you can all go to Louis' videos and give him some love. I would appreciate it. That's all. Thank you all for listening. See you next time." For three seconds you could see him moving a bit until the video cut off. For the rest of the video there was a link of a recorded version of Louis' panel. Zayn really meant it.

Meanwhile Niall gave him an answer regarding to the things they were talking about. He couldn't even concentrate on it without thinking about the video for a second. Since he wasn't following Zayn on Twitter, he gave it a go. Fans would probably freak out and he relates, honestly, he was freaking out too. Twitter was just the easiest way to communicate.

Zayn most likely saw the notification, that's why Louis also got one, saying that he followed him back.

He drew the phone near his ear and listened to another message he got.

"Did you just follow Zayn on Twitter?"

"... why are you asking?", was what he sent back. He got something back twice as fast.

"Even my notifications are blowing up."

Louis put his phone down. What did he just do?

xxx

 Nothing from Zayn except the following back last week. Louis was pretty good. No drama, no annoying people. It was Monday, the day his best friend visited him again after months. He was on the phone with her, since he couldn't wait until she was at his door.

"Where are you now?" His voice was high, not from the coffee he had, more from the excitement that she could be at his place any minute.

"I'm still not telling you, pumpkin." That was the nickname that always make the both of them giggle. "Maybe I'm already in front of your house? Or I'm still in New York?"

"Stop playing games, Swift! I know you're already here. I can't hear any car sounds." Taylor remained silent for the next two minutes and Louis was already ready right in front of the door. "Would you mind opening the door now?", he heard her saying but not through the phone. He hung up as fast as he could, opening the door. She was standing right on his doorstep. The brunette couldn't find any words to describe the feeling but it was amazing. Without any words exchanged, they fell into each others arms and it was hard for Taylor not to start sobbing.

"I missed you so, so much." She was taller than him, so Louis had to stand on his tippy toes to let his chin rest on her shoulder. After they finally let go of the other, Louis moved to make room for the blonde girl to come in. "Look at you, love. Well rested as always." Louis was really happy to have her back when he needed her. She always gives the best advice. Taylor smiled at his comment and looked around. 

"Just like I pictured it. Still the old paintings on the wall." Just as they were about to talk about how ugly Louis' apartment was, his phone decided to buzz three times in his pocket. "Hold on.", he said as he was looking at the notification bar, changing his face expression immediately. He handed Taylor the phone, as she was just as confused as he was shocked. "Well, someone's got himself a boy? Should I read it?"

"Please."

She cleared her throat, skims through the text and then reads it out loud.

"So, he wrote "Hey Louis, it's me, the idiot from VidCon. Can we meet up? I'd love to film a video with you some day! x Doesn't have to be in the near future. If you don't want to, you don't have to respond. It was a nice time at VidCon, by the way."", she chuckled at the end. "Wow, if that isn't a request for going on a date with you."

"Give me... that back." She handed him his phone back and had a smug look on her face.

"We should sit down with some tea and talk for a bit." Everything in him didn't want to have that kind of talk but it was Taylor. She knew what she did. Most of the time. Some tea, one person that knew what they did and the other who almost had existential crisis were a perfect match to talk about the other person's feelings for a bit. Or not. It depended.

The blonde's nose almost dipped into the tea as she took a little sip from it, "You really should consider messaging him back. I mean just look at you." Rolling his eyes was not an option for Taylor so she didn't stop talking, "Your face lights up when he's talking. Especially when he's talking to you. Your eyes literally look like hearts. Thats what I get from your story and what you told me about him."

"Shut up! They don't." A smile peaked out from behind his facade and he tried to hide it in a way that wasn't effective. "Okay. They can do what ever they want. I don't care."

"You do care and you know that I'm not talking about your eyes."

"What do you want to hear from me?", Louis drank his tea in one go, "That I think that he's pretty? Well of course he fucking is."

"Now that was a fast confession." Taylor took Louis' hands in her own. "You'll be good. I promise, pumpkin." Of course he'll be good but did he want his "good" to be with or without the guy he drunkenly made out with? His mind was full of thoughts, good and bad and in-between. And he couldn't get hold of one single thing.

"I know that you're thinking too much. Let's grab some stuff and go to the city, okay? Perhaps that's what you need right now, you love-drunk idiot." Thats what they did for the rest of the day. Taylor could save Louis from having a breakdown and Louis' mind was clean for a minute. Or two.

Still the same day. Still the same problems. While Taylor was in the bathroom doing ladies stuff, Louis was in the living room waiting for her to come back and also to staring at his phone. He still hasn't answered. A bit rude of him, he thought. His fingers were on the keyboard, trying to find a beginning for a sentence. He typed, "Hi. Sorry for the late answer. I'd love to collaborate with you too." But before he could press send, his actions were faster and he deleted it again. That was a bad one. He wouldn't send that. Louis was about to start another sentence but got distracted by Taylor entering the room.

"Are you messaging him after all?" He just nodded and showed his best friend the phone.

"Would be great if you could... help me a bit."

"What's gotten into you?"

"I don't know either, just... type before I don't want to answer anymore." There was something special about Louis that Taylor couldn't get hold of. It was probably his ever-changing moods. She thought of something and began typing, "Hi !! sorry that i couldn't answer earlier, my best friend came over ! i'd love to collaborate with you. might ask if I could get your number for better communication? or do i sound too serious?? x" and hit send without showing it to Louis. If he wanted to answer he should do it now. And he did, thanks to Taylor.

"Here you go. But I dare you, if you start crying about what you should answer next, I will punch you." The blonde laid down, could relax after a long day. With her best friend and... his problems.

"Couldn't word it better, love." Taylor made herself comfortable and rested her head on Louis' chest. It was comforting. Louis was just comforting and Taylor hoped that was what Zayn thought of him too. Louis deserved to be happy once for all.

He wasn't thinking anything of it when he received a notification again. Taylor was also still awake, calmly reading a book, still in the same position.

"Zayn answered." He smiled tiredly.

"About time. What did he say?" Taylor tugged at her shorts and looked up to see a bit of the phone.

"He sent some smileys and in the next message his number."

"Get it going then, pumpkin. You know i'll always be one call away when I'm not here with you, alright?" Louis tousled through her hair and fixed it right after that.

"What would I do without you?" Louis eyes almost shut due to his tiredness, but he kept going. Zayn got his answer a few minutes later via a message directed at his number, "here i am !" When the brunette was half asleep, half awake, everything seemed to work out even better. His heart didn't stop beating faster than usual, though.

"I also wanted to ask you at VidCon for your number but I couldn't bring myself to do it..", was the first message that made Louis' heart beat faster again, "look how far we've come though !!" was the second. The boy he was chatting with was something else. Louis' best friend was bound up in her book again, studying every page very careful. So it was a going back and fourth between Zayn and Louis again, until one of them felt to tired to entertain the other one. Louis was mesmerized from the first second to the last.

Love works in mysterious ways.

xxx

Of course, Louis didn't even get half of the sleep Taylor got because of texting Zayn. Lucky him that he didn't cracked his screen because he fell asleep with his phone in his hand. Sometimes he wasn't that much of a silent sleeper. He turned and tossed the blankets all night, twitching infrequently.

It was 10 a.m when Louis woke up and the first thing he noticed was the smell of fresh bread rolls. His blanket was laying on the floor, the pillows were spread on the grey couch they slept on. After a while he sat up straight, stretched his arms looked at the table in front of him.

"What is that for, Taylor?"

The blonde peeked into the living room and leant against the door frame.

"I made you breakfast. Did you forget about our agreement already? Breakfast for the other person if you wake up first." 

"Oh, yeah. Right. Thanks to you... wait, are you going anywhere?" The blonde was fully dressed, even her ponytail looked perfect.

"I have to get some stuff from the drugstore."

"You're not ordering online?"

Judging her face, she was considering it for the moment but she shook her head, "Nah, not today. I need new products that I can test before I buy them. Should I get anything for you?"

"No, no. I'm good." Louis put his phone on the table and poured himself a glass of orange juice.

"Okay. I'll be back soon. Update me via text if Zayn messages you. I don't wanna miss a thing!" They both laughed and then Taylor left for a few hours. Just like how it happens in teenage dramas, his phone received a text. How surprising. Even though Louis preferred his breakfast over a text, he couldn't wait until afterwards. A quick glance at it gave him closure that it was indeed who he thought it was. So he messaged him back straightaway. Zayn asked if he fell asleep, because he did too around the same time.

"yeah, I did.", he texted and sent another one seconds after, "what are you doing today?" The courage to text the other boy back just came in waves. Sometimes he felt like it, sometimes he didn't. While texting him he also prepared his breakfast to be ready to be eaten.

He almost spit out his orange juice as the display changed to the "incoming call" screen. Louis quickly swallowed it and pressed on accept with his shaking thumb.

"Uh, hi!" he said, coughing with his hand in front of his mouth.

"Hey.." Zayn stuttered, "You aren't busy right now, are you?" His fucking raspy voice again. He could listen to it all day.

"No, I'm just having breakfast. You may hear me stuffing bread rolls into my mouth." Louis heard a soft chuckle coming from Zayn and tried not to smile like an idiot while pressing a phone against his ear like his life depended on it.

"Good. Good... Sorry if this is weird because I called. It's better than texting, I think. I'm a slow typer."

"Haven't noticed that, Zayn. You were pretty fast last night." Louis laughed at his own words and excused himself, "That sounds weird. I'm never saying that again."  If they only could see how big the other one smiled. They'd melt.

"I mean, it's fine by me!" The conversation turned into more laughing than talking, "So the thing was, I wanted to ask you if we should grab some breakfast together but like you said, you're already munching on those bread rolls."

Louis didn't know what's gotten into him but just a second after Zayn waited for an answer, Louis threw a question into the room, "Why don't we go and grab dinner then?" Forgetting that Taylor was still his guest, he slapped his hand against his face and sighed, "Wait. No. I mean yes we could do that but my best friend is still sleeping over and it would be fucking rude of me to just go out with someone."

If Zayn only knew how red Louis cheeks were. Well his whole fucking head was.

"It can wait, honestly. Grabbing dinner, doing a video together... sounds like a plan to me?" Louis wanted to throw up. In every way. He didn't know if it was the orange juice or the kick of excitement he just got.

"I like that plan too."

"Amazing. So that's what we'll do then? Just give me a call or text me when you have the time."

"The thing is, my best friend is sleeping over at mine right now. Would you mind filming at my place? So I don't have to be a rude host and leave her alone." Louis crossed his legs over, "She's an angel, I promise. I bet you'll like her. She's been here for a few days but leaves on Thursday."

"Of course, so you want it to do this week?" 

"Exactly. We should do it now before we procrastinate."

"Send me your address and i'll be there. Thursday? After your friend leaves?"

"I think that'll work. See you then?"

"See you." With that, Louis hung up on Zayn and tossed the phone behind his self. Two days until he finds out if it was a good idea. He knew it was.

xxx

"Look how far we've come." Louis turned around after his heart skipped a beat.

"You scared the shit out of me, Tay." The tall blonde hugged him from behind and smiled as she looked in the mirror in front of him.

"Sorry. Even though you deserve it sometimes." She ruffled through his hair and let her hands rest on it. "Are you excited?"

"Well, if you mean that I couldn't sleep and was just laying awake then you're right." The girl sighed and turned him around so they could look into each others eyes. Again, she took his hands in her own.

"It's just Zayn. Breathe. You're going to film the video and everything will be okay. You like him, it's normal. I've got this feeling too when I'm with the person I like." Louis pulled her into a hug and realized that its _just_ Zayn.

"I've got this. This is pathetic. I've never been so dramatic because of a boy."

"Right. Just be yourself, Lou. I'll talk to Selena on the phone when you two are filming, so she can have a laugh too when I tell her about this." Louis was shocked for a moment but saw it in Taylor's eyes that she was just joking. "Also tell Niall to text her."

"I promise-" he stopped as he heard it ringing at the door, "We'll come back to this. Now come with me so you can meet him too."

"Alright, go on then, big boy." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and followed Louis to the door where he breathed in and out deeply. The brunette looked back and then to the door, as he opened it. They both were welcomed by a smile from Zayn, that they mirrored back at him.

"Hey!! Good to see you.", As a nice gesture he took Zayn's equipment in his own hands and moved away from the doorway.

"I'm surprised that you found the way.", all of them laughed and Zayn gave Taylor a petite hug, as he entered the apartment.

"You're Taylor then. I hope Louis told you about this early enough."

"Luckily he did! He was excited and I was too even though I won't be in the video. I'm jealous." She giggled and took a step back, "You want a cuppa tea? Or coffee?" They all agreed on some coffee and as she was turning around she smiled at Louis as she was saying "He's all yours now."

"My home office is upstairs, should we film it there?"

"Yeah. I mean, anywhere you like. It's your house." Zayn looked around and gave the pictures on the wall a closer look, "You've got an idea what we're going to film? Because I don't."

"I've got you. Had enough time to think about it, let's go." Zayn followed Louis up the stairs, he almost got hit by the camera tripod. Well that was his fault, not Louis'. The brunette put the equipment on his couch and turned his computer on. "What do you think of the whisper challenge?"

"Pretty neat. Should I take off my jacket?"

Louis turned around the second Zayn said it, glancing at him and then nodding, "If you'd like. You could get hot." Not that Zayn isn't hot enough, he thought.

"And you're gonna sit there in your hoodie? I mean, you could get hot." Louis flipped him off, pulling the hoodie over his head, forgetting that Zayn was in the room with him for a second. Or he's just doing it on purpose. He grabbed a blue shirt and put it on.

"Better?"

The younger boy was perplex for a moment but brought a "Yes." over his lips after sitting down on the couch. He quietly smiled to himself while building up his camera equipment and talking to Louis while doing it, "Aren't you more of a vlogger?"

"Well, I wasn't the one who wanted to collaborate."

"You little shit." To be honest, Zayn loved getting teased by Louis. It was their thing since their little argument weeks ago. It was a dumb one. At least they were friends now, they could do... friendly stuff. Although Zayn wanted more. More than just the daily texting, more than just a call or more than getting called "bro". More than just being friends with Louis. The night at VidCon was pretty much everything he needed to get those kind of thoughts about him. About him not being just his friend. He didn't want that, but if that's what Louis wanted, it was okay.

Too bad that he didn't know that Louis wanted the same.

Not yet.

They've finished filming two hours later, in the meantime Taylor came in with their cups of coffee and was basically third wheeling behind the scenes. Both of them got a bit touchy, they laughed a lot and now Louis was editing the video. He's uploading it on his own channel. Zayn also got one for his channel, but that's what they're going to record later. Zayn was still with Louis, Taylor also.

"I think I saw you on a CD once? You sing, right?" Taylor and Zayn were talking about music, it looked like Taylor decided against leaving. Finally she could talk with someone professional about music. "Do you write your own songs?"

"Yeah, I do. That was my EP. I'm writing songs for my album right now." he explained and every time he did, Louis smiled big. They were both passionate about it. Good thing is that they just see the brunette's back, otherwise they'd notice.

"Well, well. I want to be the second person that listens to it. Louis better be the first one." She pulled her handbag further on her shoulder. "If not you'll get a visit from me again!" She laughed and went over to Louis.

"I'll go now, pumpkin. We'll see each other soon okay? If you need something, call me." Louis looked up at her and smiled, it was times like this where he was grateful for what he got. He got Taylor. He got his friends. Everything. And he got Zayn. Thats what he needed the most.

A little love.

xxx

Fast forward, two months later. Louis still got Zayn in his mind, they talked a lot more than in the past and met up as much as they can. Sometimes alone and sometimes was Liam, Niall or even Taylor with them. It didn't matter if they were alone or other people were with them, Louis still got the look in his eyes, as if it was just meant for Zayn. What the older boy didn't know yet, was that Zayn admired him just as much. Best friends, is what they'd say to each other but what they'd think, would be different.

Zayn still got the night on his mind, when they went to a concert together. Louis got the memory of them grabbing dinner together. More than once. Maybe at that time it was the moment when they both knew. They both knew how it felt, when they were next to the other, how it felt when they looked into their eyes, that's not how best friends should feel about one another.

Zayn knew how he felt and he had to tell him. He couldn't let his heart skip a beat every time he was near the smaller one without telling him. So he did, in the best friend tag they'd film tonight. It was right before Louis should arrive at Zayn's place.

He had everything ready for the video. Lightning, the camera set up and all of the questions on an extra piece of paper.

"Are you coming or not", he texts him and sends some smileys with the message. He got one back, "You like texting better than opening the door?" Zayn furrows his eyebrows, went with the phone in his hand to the door and opened it. "Well finally!", Louis exclaimed and gave the taller boy a quick hug as he entered his house, "Well, bigger than my flat, isn't it?" Zayn didn't even question how Louis was so fast at his place.

"It is. You're jealous?"

Louis nodded sarcastically, "Of course!" and took of his jeans jacket. "Let's start then, where do we film?"

"No smalltalk? I'm sad now.", Zayn got punched by Louis on the shoulder for that. They went to Zayn's room, which Louis seen a lot of times by now. They were often at the other persons place, just talking or playing video games. Or they smoked.

"Nothing changed since the last time I was here, very interesting."

"You were here last week." Louis let himself fall onto Zayn's bed and stretched out his arms and legs. His face said something along the lines, "I know, can we start already?" Before they could do it, Zayn took the piece of paper and held it in a way, where Louis couldn't see it. Or at least the questions. Zayn turned on the camera as they were both sitting in front of it and welcomed his audience with a "Hi guys! We're back again with another video since you like the idea of us so much!" They both laughed, Zayn had to cut a bit out; if he wouldn't the video would be just him and Louis laughing.

That was not his plan though. His plan was that he could rename the video. From best friend to boyfriend tag. He risked everything. Just for a bit of happiness in his life. His happiness was Louis. He wanted his happiness to be with him and he wanted to be with his happiness.

"Since you all can read, we're doing the best friend tag! Prepare for some questions that we have to answer truthfully and just be right. When we're not then we're bad best friends.", grinned the brunette. Louis didn't know what was yet to come and if he knew, his heart would even pump faster than it already did.

Just Louis, Zayn and a few questions. One of those questions will change everything they had.

That was one of the points where Zayn would cut the footage. He read out the first question, "Where and how did you two meet? Louis, you're first."

"Of course, I'm always first. So. We met at VidCon 2016. He wanted a picture with me, I was a drunk ass and he decided to make a video about it. Now we're best friends. See, anything can happen if you're just being rude! No. I'm kidding. Don't. That's bad." Louis looked over and waited for Zayn to continue, "Did you choose those questions?" Louis interrupted him before Zayn could read off the next one.

"Yes, why?"

"They're bad."

"Fuck off, Louis. Now, question number two.", he smiled into the camera, "What did you think of the other person when you first met and what do you think of them now? That's one for me." He put the paper next to him and calmed himself down by breathing in and out, quietly. "When I first met Louis I thought he was one of the people I really liked, he motivated me to do my own videos and after the incident at VidCon? I thought low of him. When he saw my video I didn't think that much of it but it hurt when he was indirecting me on Twitter. After we got put together in a room and talked about everything, I wasn't mad or anything anymore. Everything was fine. But...", Zayn looked at Louis, who's facial expression changed after his "but", "There are some unexplained ... things. I mean after we went to a concert of his best friend together I saw him in a different light. I saw the light in his eyes when he looked at me, I saw everything that I lost coming back to me, loving me more than I could. I saw what it meant to love a person and everything about them. There's one thing though. Best friends don't love each other like the way I love him."

Louis stopped breathing for the moment when Zayn said his last piece of text.

"What about you, Louis? Do you want to add something?" The person spoken to didn't know to respond for a period of time, feeling his heart skipping beats so often, that it could've been unhealthy. He gulped, looking for words.

"When we had dinner together, I couldn't stop staring at you. You smiled at me like I was the most beautiful person on this earth and I loved every second of it. I loved and loved and loved and nobody showed it to me like you did. I guess I can say that I love my best friend more than I should."

They looked at each other like the other was holding the universe in their hands.

"Louis?", he asked him to look up, into Zayn's eyes, "Would you ... be my boyfriend?" The brunette didn't let any other thought in his mind, pulling Zayn in his arms. Louis' lips close to Zayns ear, whispering a soft "Yes. Yes, of course." into it. Louis pressed a kiss on Zayn's neck, moving his lips to his ear again.

"I knew from that moment on that every way leads to you." 

 


End file.
